ebooks Archives | Page 3 of 7 | American Libraries Magazine

Indyreads: Australia’s New
E-Content Platform

By James LaRue | May 16, 2016

Like the United States and Canada, Australia has struggled with ebook prices that are too high, platforms with unpredictable fees, and licenses that are hostile to libraries, users, and authors alike. Inspired by various examples in the US (the Internet Archive, Douglas County [Colo.] Libraries, Califa Group), the good people at New South Wales established … Continue reading Indyreads: Australia’s New
E-Content Platform →

Making Progress with Digital Content

By Toby Greenwalt and Richard Kong | April 14, 2016

Carolyn Anthony, director of Skokie (Ill.) Public Library and cochair of American Library Association’s Digital Content Working Group (DCWG), kicked things off. She shared insights gained during meetings with major publishers in December 2015. For instance, publishers generally continue to show greater willingness to provide better pricing and more flexible licensing terms. Penguin Random House … Continue reading Making Progress with Digital Content →

Internet Policy Task Force Notes Library Copyright Concerns

By Carrie Russell | February 5, 2016

The task force consists of Commerce representatives from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Patent and Trademark Office, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the International Trade Administration. Formed in 2010 to “conduct a comprehensive review of the nexus between privacy policy, copyright, global free flow of information, cybersecurity, and innovation in … Continue reading Internet Policy Task Force Notes Library Copyright Concerns →

DCWG cochair Carolyn Anthony introduces the panel (from left, DCWG cochair Erika Linke; Mark Kuyper, executive director of the Book Industry Study Group (BISG); Andrew Albanese, senior writer and features editor for Publishers Weekly (PW); and Kelvin Watson, chief innovation and technology officer, Queens (N.Y.) Library).

The Ebook Glass Is Half Full

By Robert C. Maier | January 29, 2016

The panel was hosted by DCWG cochairs Erika Linke, associate dean of Carnegie Mellon University Libraries, and Carolyn Anthony, director of the Skokie (Ill.) Public Library. The panelists were Mark Kuyper, executive director of the Book Industry Study Group (BISG); Andrew Albanese, senior writer and features editor for Publishers Weekly (PW); and Kelvin Watson, chief … Continue reading The Ebook Glass Is Half Full →

Penguin Random House Ebooks Now Licensed for Perpetual Access

By Robert C. Maier | January 20, 2016

As in the past, the license is for one circulation at a time per copy. Previously, Penguin had imposed a one-year limit on library licenses, requiring the library to pay again for the title. Prior to the merger of Penguin and Random House in July 2013, the two publishers had entirely different terms for library … Continue reading Penguin Random House Ebooks Now Licensed for Perpetual Access →

What’s in Store for Ebooks?

By Alan S. Inouye | January 4, 2016

What accounts for the sudden and rapid growth? One answer: the introduction of Amazon’s Kindle in 2007. In response to the disruption that ensued—specifically for library ebook sales and lending—ALA established the a working group on libraries and digital issues (now known as the Digital Content Working Group, or DCWG) to help navigate the Association … Continue reading What’s in Store for Ebooks? →

Cover of “Digital Content in Public Libraries: What Do Patrons Think?"

Have Ebook Readers Given Up on the Library?

By James LaRue | December 11, 2015

On the one hand, some important information from previous studies has been confirmed: “Patrons purchased 50% of the ebooks they read in the past 12 months and received 50% for free.” In other words, we’re still helping people find ebooks, and they buy about half of them. What the library doesn’t buy, of course, does … Continue reading Have Ebook Readers Given Up on the Library? →

ALA leaders meet with representatives from the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO), from left: ALA President Sari Feldman; Lisa Rosenblum, chief librarian, Brooklyn Public Library; Milan Hughston, chief of library and museum archives at The Museum of Modern Art; James G. Neal, university librarian emeritus at Columbia University; Kelvin Watson, chief innovation and technology officer, Queens Library; and Nate Hill, executive director, METRO.

ALA, Publishers Talk Ebook Lending Terms for Libraries

By Alan S. Inouye | December 7, 2015

ALA highlighted the valuable role of libraries in the publishing and reading ecosystems and thus why more flexible and favorable terms for library ebook lending are in everyone’s best interest. This visit represents ALA’s ninth such delegation effort over the last several years. Libraries have a prominent role in the discovery of books and authors, … Continue reading ALA, Publishers Talk Ebook Lending Terms for Libraries →

Screenshot from Queens Library's Virtual Library.

Discovery and Delivery: Keep Calm and Make It Real

By Larra Clark | December 7, 2015

Watson joined Queens three years ago as chief innovation and technology officer under his motto of “keep calm and make it real.” Learning about the progress he and his team have made over that time was exhilarating. Taking lessons from his time at Ingram, Borders, and the US Department of Agriculture, Watson focused on breaking … Continue reading Discovery and Delivery: Keep Calm and Make It Real →

ALA leaders gathered in New York to meet with several publishers. Back row, from left: ALA Past President Courtney Young; Erika Linke, DCWG cochair and Associate Dean and Director of Research and Academic Services at Carnegie Mellon University Libraries; DCWG cochair and director of Skokie (Ill.) Public Library Carolyn Anthony; and ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels. Front row, from left: Julie Todaro, dean of library services at Austin (Tex.) Community College and 2016-2017 ALA President; OITP Director Alan Inouye; ALA President Sari Feldman; and OITP Program Director Carrie Russell.

ALA Responds to Penguin Random House Ebook Licensing Announcement

By Alan S. Inouye | December 3, 2015

The new structure will phase out the Penguin model of one-year lending and reduce the price for some previous Random House titles with a $65 cap on all Penguin Random House e-titles starting January 1, 2016. “Libraries will be pleased that the combined Penguin Random House license will ensure perpetual access to e-titles, and all will … Continue reading ALA Responds to Penguin Random House Ebook Licensing Announcement →

Simon & Schuster Offers Two-Year Ebook Discount

By Robert C. Maier | November 30, 2015

An updated version of the Big Five Publishers and Library Lending matrix (PDF) is now available. Readers of this blog might want to comment on some questions that come to my mind as I think through the implications of this new approach: How does a library decide whether the one-year or two-year option is right? Why … Continue reading Simon & Schuster Offers Two-Year Ebook Discount →

ALA Affiliate Launches Ebook Award

By Alison Marcotte | November 16, 2015

BCALA President Kelvin Watson says this will be the first ebook award offered by an ALA affiliate. “For many years, we have had self-published authors who wanted to participate in the literary awards,” says Watson, Queens (N.Y.) Library’s director of e-content services and strategy. The award provides the opportunity to highlight diverse voices in the … Continue reading ALA Affiliate Launches Ebook Award →

Latest Library Links

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ALA President Wanda Brown issued a statement in response to Macmillan CEO John Sargent’s “Ask Me Anything” session at the ALA Midwinter Meeting on January 25. “Today, Mr. Sargent invited conference attendees to ask him anything,” it read. “He talked, and stakeholders from the library community asked questions and engaged. Unfortunately, he has not been listening to us…. Delaying, denying, or limiting access to new titles for libraries means limiting access for readers. We see only one acceptable outcome for this situation: Macmillan must lift the embargo.”
ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, Jan. 24
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Authors and Olympic ice dancing medalists Maia and Alex Shibutani will promote the value of libraries as honorary chairs of National Library Week, April 19–25. The Shibutanis will shine a spotlight on our nation’s libraries, librarians, and library workers. “Find Your Place at the Library” is the theme for this year’s National Library Week, which emphasizes that everyone is welcome at the library. Maia and Alex Shibutani (aka the ShibSibs) are two-time Olympic bronze medalists, three-time world medalists, Four Continents Champions, and two-time US National Champions.
ALA Communications and Marketing Office, Jan. 24
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ALCTS, LITA, and LLAMA have announced that Emily Drabinski and Rebekkah Smith Aldrich will deliver keynote addresses at the Exchange Virtual Forum. The theme is “Building the Future Together,” and it will take place on the afternoons of May 4, 6, and 8. Each day has a different focus, with day 1 exploring leadership and change management, day 2 examining continuity and sustainability, and day 3 focusing on collaborations. Drabinski’s keynote will be on May 4, and Smith Aldrich’s will be on May 8. To get more information about the proposed future for joint projects such as the Exchange, join the conversation about #TheCoreQuestion.
ALCTS, Jan. 24
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Officials at the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City said perhaps 85,000 historic and artistic items it had carefully collected for the past 40 years were most likely lost after a fire tore through a Chinatown building where its archives were stored on the evening of January 23. Museum President Nancy Yao Maasbach said that the collection, stored in the building at 70 Mulberry Street, was one of a kind and represented the single most important repository of New York’s Chinese community. While about 40,000 items in the archives were digitized, many physical items are irreplaceable. No one will be able to enter and retrieve items for at least three weeks.
New York Times, Jan. 24
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Visiting the library remains the most common cultural activity Americans engage in, by far. The average of 10.5 trips to the library that US adults report taking in 2019 exceeds their participation in eight other common leisure activities. Americans attend live music or theatrical events and visit national or historic parks roughly 4 times a year on average and visit museums and gambling casinos 2.5 times annually. Trips to amusement or theme parks (1.5) and zoos (0.9) are the least common activities on this list. Women report visiting the library nearly twice as frequently as men, and adults aged 18–29 visit the library much more than all older age groups.
Gallup, Jan. 24
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The Cleveland Public Library and the union representing library workers said January 23 they reached a tentative deal to resolve their simmering labor dispute, avoiding a potential strike that would have shut down some library branches and services. About 400 librarians, library assistants, clerks, maintenance workers, and custodians have been without a contract since December 2019. Contract talks between the library system and the union, the Service Employees International Union District 1199, have been ongoing since September, but broke down around the new year. Workers will vote on the contract on January 29.
Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jan. 23
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Natasha Lomas writes: “Did you notice a recent change to how Google search results are displayed on the desktop? I noticed something last week—thinking there must be some kind of weird bug messing up the browser’s page rendering because suddenly everything looked similar: a homogenous sea of blue text links and favicons that, on such a large expanse of screen, come across as one block of background noise. I found myself clicking on an ad link rather than the organic search result I was looking for. This is Google’s latest dark pattern: The adtech giant has made organic results even more closely resemble the ads it serves against keyword searches.”
TechCrunch, Jan. 23

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